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Apparently, he calls them a “Ker-wich,” because these are the details that emerge when you have, as Larry Fitzgerald said, “storybook stuff” like the Kerwynn Williams development. A Ker-wich, you see, is the specialty meal for Williams, the guy who had never had an NFL carry before the 19 he had Sunday and just happened to pick up 100 yards in the process.

“I have a Ker-wich every day,” Williams said. “PB and J. Four stacks. Two peanut butter, two jelly, stack ’em on top of each other. Have the milk, gotta dip it in milk too.”

Maybe it’s the diet of champions. Maybe it’s just the diet of a kid who, given a chance to play, provided the Cardinals something they so desperately needed. No one is going to confuse the Chiefs’ run defense with the Seahawks or even the Rams. But the Cards hadn’t been running the ball a lick for three weeks. Sunday they did. Jonathan Cooper got his first start at left guard and left tackle Jared Veldheer was battling a sore ankle but the lanes were there much of the game and the offensive line was at the heart of it all. And it was spearheaded by Williams, and the Cards came out with a win.

The celebration wasn’t exactly going to last long at all. It can’t. The Cardinals are back at it in just a few hours from now. They travel to St. Louis Wednesday afternoon for a brutal short week – especially with all the injuries – to play the Rams. Not fun.

“You have to love the NFL schedule though,” Fitzgerald said with a smile, and I’m thinking his true feelings are pretty much the opposite of love. “Eight o’clock meetings (Monday) morning and six o’clock treatment. This is the schedule.”

A schedule that’s a lot easier to digest, frankly, after a crucial win. Ten wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1975-76. You could see it in the locker room, this was important.

— Before we flash too far back, though, a look ahead. The short week is brutal for even the “healthy” guys. What about cornerback Antonio Cromartie, who was feared down with an Achilles injury? Bruce Arians said afterward it turned out to not be the Achilles (exhale now) but still couldn’t specify what was wrong.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed for him,” Arians said. That might be more optimistic for the long-term, but can he possibly turn around to play in a game in four days? Same goes for linebacker Matt Shaughnessy, who hurt his shoulder late in the game and didn’t return. We also need to see how Fitz, playing for the first time in three weeks but not at 100 percent, can bounce back on such a short week.

— Arians took blame for a couple of play choices that didn’t pan out (and drew plenty of questions on my Twitter feed at the time — @cardschatter, if you need it). “I called a couple of really bad plays,” Arians said. He named the Robert Hughes run up the middle on third-and-1 – when the Chiefs loaded the line of scrimmage with what seemed like 15 men – and the screen down at the Kansas City 5 that lost four yards in particular.

— It’s safe to say the Chiefs feel they got the short end of the stick on the two key calls of the game – the Fasano offensive pass interference and the Kelce fumble. (Who knew the Cardinals would benefit so much from the other team’s tight ends?) The Cardinals weren’t apologizing and insisted they thought a) Fasano committed a penalty and b) Kelce definitely fumbled.

But, defensive end Calais Campbell said with a smile, “Hey, that’s part of the game. The referees are a big part of the game some times. Sometimes it goes against you, sometimes it goes for you.”

— Not ideal that rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro put not one but two field-goal tries off an upright. I’m not sure he could do that again in five attempts if he tried 100 more times. But I do like how Arians laughed it off. The Cards can’t be thrilled, but public backing is important because they are going to need him.

— Frostee Rucker with a big game Sunday. Two sacks, and he was the guy in Alex Smith’s face to force the bad throw/Alex Okafor interception. Rucker has had a solid year for the Cards.

— Okafor (the pick, another sack) has turned into a find for the Cardinals at linebacker.

— No question that the Cardinals got a huge boost because Jamaal Charles got hurt. He had that 63-yard TD run and dynamic 18-yard TD catch off a swing pass and that dude was destined for a big day. But he hurt his ankle which I assume cost him touches. Still weird they didn’t go to him more. Judging by his reaction postgame, Charles felt it was weird too.

— Drew Stanton wasn’t great, but he was good enough, and that’s all the Cards can rightfully expect. He didn’t turn the ball over (although the Chiefs dropped one sure interception), he threw a beautiful TD pass to Jaron Brown on third-and-18 and threw a beautiful bomb to Michael Floyd for 45 yards. He kept going after Tamba Hali wrenched his ankle early in the game (on a play that I thought at first might’ve ended Stanton’s season.) You cannot fault the guy’s toughness or effort.

Guess it’s time to go. Short week for everyone. Including me. But the Cards have 10 wins in the book, so that’s a nice jumping off point.

Great win! Cards fought all game long and showed a lot of heart today. No matter what happens from here on out this has been a successful season when you factor in all the injuries and adversity this team has had to deal with.

you stated you were a long time Cardinals fan and that you were sorry for some of your comments. I replied, welcome back. It was exciting to here you may return to the fan you were when you became a Cardinals fan.

We are 10-3, BA is not going anywhere and we’re still in the hunt for the Lombardi THIS season. Are you in or out?

Why did you become a Cardinals fan to begin with, what was it you liked so much about this team that you declared a lifelong fandom for the Cardinals? Unless you just hated our Cardinals more than 31 other teams, but I suspect it was something more.

Come back and be a glass is half full fan and enjoy the success we’re having. Instead of expecting a grand fall from the best record in the entire NFL (tied), have just a little faith we can pull this off.

So louis,

what do You want? Forget about the rest of us for a minute and ponder two questions. One – Why did you become a Cardinals fan so long ago (in your words) and Two – What do you want out of this season?

We’ve beaten the 49ers and they lost to the Raiders today, that’s a win.

The Rams, in their house, we can win, but the way they are playing it will be a difficult one.

The Seahawks, will want to win badly because that gets them the number one or the number two seed, but it’s in our house and we don’t lose at home and it’s for the number one seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs and into the Super Bowl (if we win out), so we have as much or more to play for than they do.

Whisenhunt took alot longer to get to 20 wins than Arians, and would have been even longer if it wasn’t for Kurt Warner. Arians has 20 already, with what he has had to work with. Not that I disliked Whiz. Just sayin’
And how bout having K. Williams do what Ryan Williams was supposed to be doing. Defense getting sacks, draft picks, making plays, forcing careful qb’s into make mistakes.
Solid win!

I was comparing our pre-game homage by BA and players to the Chiefs Eric Berry with the Rams homage to the Redskins by sending out the 6 players who were drafted as a result of the trade so Washington could get RGIII

I’m so very glad our team has class. Did ya’ll hear Deon Sanders’ comments on the highlights when they showed BA in an Eric Berry t-shirt, go listen, we have a coach who has respect.

We can beat the Rams. It’ll be a tough one with a QB at 50% completion, but it can be done.

The Lombardi trophy or nothing at all!

My second favorite team this week is the Falcons. I’d so love to see a tie between SF and SEA. That would be icing on the cake. But we need that cake and that’s a Thursday win in our former home town. Go Cards!

“Unless you just hated our Cardinals more than 31 other teams”, should have been hated less than 31 other teams. Oops.

And I still Want to welcome you to a winning season, the second in two seasons, one we’ve waited for a long time. Are you with us? We’re 10-3!

Please come on board and enjoy the ride of a season that should have logically been de-railed 12 games ago. (Gotta love this team to keep winning despite what “should” be happening.) This team was built to win and They Are Winning!

Keep BA and get our players healthy for next season so we can win our second Lombardi. We’re heading towards Home Field Advantage throughout the playoffs and the Super Bowl!

With all the injurie, even if we don’t make the playoffs I. Consider the season a succes! No other team or coaching staff could have came close to 10 wins with even half the injuries we have!! I think we make the playoffs but not sure if we can hold on to the divisio. Lets hope San Francisco can get their crap together and beat Seattle, that would help us immensely!!
Can anyone say they didn’t see the Ellington injury coming, he is NOT the workhorse type, I will say it again, we NEED a power back who can carry 12-15 (more if he is racking up the yards per carry of around 5, like Williams was today) every game, that is the only thing I don’t agree with BA on, quite a few of us saw this season ending injury coming for Ellington and posted our fear many times!!
Can anyone imagine our Cardinals at full strength?? I truly believe we could have made a run at an undefeated season, or 1 loss at the most!!! Just think about how many key starters. we lost to injury, suspension, free agency, and retirement!! Guessing, around 15 starters, key players, man what could have been, I think we would have been totally dominating!!! No other team would be above. 500 if they had this many subtractions from a 10 win team a year ago!!!

you’re still up and monitoring this after 10:30? That’s dedication my friend. Looking forward to the Note Cards for the Rams. I do have a question, at this stage of a quarterback’s career, can Stanton realistically move from being a 50%er for completions into the 60%er club? Can QB coaches improve a QB this much?

I have to say I love what Stanton brings and he’s settled down to what he was earlier in the season – a winning QB who doesn’t throw interceptions. He had 65% completion against the Lions, can he do this consistently?

Drew, are you reading this? I believe in you and believe you can take this team to a win in the Super Bowl. You can be a 60% completion QB. Is it you or coaching or some combination? Please, keep winning. Just three more in the season and then three more home games. So four more home games and we don’t lose at home and two more away games, the last should be a win and this weeks will be tough.

The RED SEA definitely showed up today. Good job to all that attended. Was great to get this win but now we have three days to prep for the Rams. They look scary but if we can come away with a W that would be awesome. Go cards !!!

At the Eagles last year we got two horrible calls that cost last year’s Cardinals team a playoff. This year they got a call that possibly could send us to them playoffs. That’s just how it works in the NFL.

Drew looked better, good for him, but he still feels off to me. He made the plays he needed, but he is still suffering from poor judgement. There is one factor he did not have the past two games. The running game.

It is clear this team can win with Stanton based on a big “if” since Lucky Charms should endorse the Cardinals this year. If he gets even a decent running game.
That is a common thread, if the running game does well he wins, if it is shut down; it looks ugly, real ugly.

So a playoff birth and Super Bowl win, will be up to the Offense Line and Kerwynn Williams. Yes, the defense needs to play well, but it played well in the two losses.

Even if we fail to beat the Rams, the 49ers are in complete free fall. So 11 wins at worst is realistic. We have a realistic chance at 12 wins too.

People have to stop bringing up the Eagles game from last season. The Cards lost. Get over it. They put themselves in a sizeable hole in the first half. Palmer over threw or under threw receivers multiple times. Those penalties were not what lost us the game. Also we didn’t even beat the 9ers the last game of the season which they absolutely had to do to have a shot at the playoffs. The Saints would have had to lose, and they didn’t anyway, but we didn’t take care of our end either.

Now, on a much more positive note…great to have 10 wins on the season. We should all be very proud of this team. I hear on ESPN radio all the time up here that the Bears should have hired Arians instead of Trestman. Whether we can win a playoff game or even make it to the playoffs, it’s been a fun team to root for this season.

Awesome back to back 10 win seasons ….for the first time since my first 2 seasons as cards fan when we were 10-4 and 11-3. [they only played 14 games back then ] Now wish for our first ever bye for my xmas present . Tough 3 games to go go!!! GO CARDINALS !!!

I’m going to have a Ker-wich today! But can he do the PB & J TD dance? Way to go Cooper you made us proud. We drafted Okafor in the Fourth Round as our pass rush addition that year after we took care of other compelling needs. That was two UTexas OLB’s two years in a row. It’s great to have a long term investment pay off – what an athlete! Thanks Drew for coming through. Nice recovery PP and prayers go out for Cro our other lynch pin. Meet me in St Louie!

Now I know why Bush was let go. Kerwynn was so good on scout team
they had no choice but to move him up.

What I like best about Kerwynn is that he keeps his balance and keeps his
feet moving always looking for a running lane. He doesn’t run into the line
and trip over everyone like Ellington has done too often.

Unlike Ellington, who is better running outside in space, Kerwynn is a much
better inside runner who pecks his way around offensive linemen always
looking for a hole while keeping his feet under him, and his shoulders
square.

So basically with this Thursday night game we can lock up a playoff berth. (Almost.)

Philly and Dallas still have to play each other this coming Sunday, so one of them will lose. Even if Seattle wins the division over us, we’re battling Philly, Dallas, and Detroit (and potentially Green Bay if somehow Detroit catches them) for the two wild card spots. But one of Detroit and GB has to win the division and same for one of Philly and Dallas. And we’ll have the tiebreaker over whoever loses the Philly/Dallas game, who will have at least 5 losses after Sunday, which is the most we can end up with if we win Thursday.

Only way I can see that this scenario doesn’t pan out is if Philly and Dallas tie. (Which is probably less than a 1% chance.)

And of course we need to win to keep our chance of winning the division alive, but after two losses and a squeaker win against KC, and watching Seattle dismantle us, SF and Philly in three straight weeks … well, let’s just say I expect us to be underdogs. We’re already underdogs going to St Louis this week, and that’s going to be a tough game after they’ve pitched two straight shutouts, albeit against weak teams.

Nice job. Not sure how much Charles’ ankle was a factor in the Chiefs not going to him more. BUT I will say this – Andy Reid has always seemed to have a tendency to go away from his best offensive weapons and / or the running game in favor of play-calling that seldom seems to make sense. THAT is why so many Eagles fans out here were SO ready to be done with him. And I’m sure some Chiefs fans are becoming familiar with this as well. THAT is also why I NEVER wanted to see Reid as the HC here.

NOT a good time for a short week game. I swear, I’m watching the Thurs night game last week….watching the promos for Cards / Rams the following week….and I’m thinking to myself, “Yeah, and in between, they have to play the Chiefs on Sunday!” NOT a fan of the Thursday night games. And it has been common for the road teams to struggle badly on Thurs nights this season.

Yet ANOTHER obstacle this team has to try to overcome.

Rams are scary these days, no doubt about it. They look like the Cardinals did this same time last year – winning games and looking like a team no one woudld want to have to play.

BTW, I thought what the Rams did yesterday was AWESOME. They sent the 6 players who were acquired in the RGIII trade out for the coin toss. If that wasn’t a REAL big in-your-face to the Redskins, then I don’t know what was. Then, they went out and flat out kicked their sorry rear ends. Pretty sweet. Good for them.

I had to laugh when I was watching FOX’s postgame show, “The OT” after the Seahawks-Eagles game and when running through the highlights from the day, Terry Bradshaw credited John Skelton with the TD pass to Jaron Brown! LOL! Nobody on the show made an effort to correct the error before the show ended.

Oh man, what a big win. Again, not always pretty but managed to do it again.
So glad we are 10-6. ALL the talking heads said (at the beginning of the year) no way. History says you double your wins in one year, you always fall off the next (their words). Now just one more W and its 11-5. Sorry to say, I can remember that season. Wow, if only we would have had this defense..
Tuff game against the Rams, but somehow, someway………

Take a peak at some video of Kerwynn on you tube when he played for UTAH. The guy is amazing, with his jukes and speed. He seems like a humble man from his post gamer. I like the idea of running back by committee. Kudos go out to the offensive line for some smash mouth blocking.
Never saw John Brown after he took that huge hit. Hope hes okay to go. One of my favorites, waiting for another peanut butter and jelly dance in the end zone. Seattle would be a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the 49?s lost, that should make a win against them a bit easier, if they are out of the polayoffhopes after the game against the hawks. but the team has to win in st.louis, and that will be the hardest task this year.

Dynosar…
Counting the 9ers out prematurely is bad karma. Just as we have come alive after losing so can they, and the Division Championship banner is not hanging in UofP stadium yet! The next three games are going to be blood and guts and winning in St.Louis would surely be a confidence builder that we are back, with a new run game as well as new resolve.
The newsies can’t stop talking about the Seahwks “swagger” and, there may be something to that in that teams are buying into their bravado. I actually, believe this one in St.Louis may be the hardest as the Rams are coming alive as Scott pointed out and they have put up some pretty impressive shutouts by +20 and +50 respectively (Redskins & Raiders) plus beating the Broncos! We may be battered but with Fitz back, even at 60%, and some fresh legs, I believe we can give a good fight. They think they know us but, do they? As someone pointed out, this isn’t the same team they played even a month ago..which can be good.
Everybody…
Drew is our guy and we need to stay the course and give him our complete support. He really came alive once Okefor got things started and he(and everybody else) always do better once the rust is shaken off and we get rolling.
I was so proud of the Birdgang on Sunday and the level of noise and enthusiasm they brought which, I believe, helped the team. Short week means even more mental preparation and toughness. NEXT STOP ST. LOUIS, STAY TOUGH CARDS!

BA some of the first down calls were to predictable in fact the play calling was terrible.
Why not use Hughes more? He looks fast!
Ellington..read my posts i said he would get hurt the way he was being used. He needs to be used like Philly uses Sproles
We need this win and better stay away from 3rd and long in St Louis..Stanton will not survive that pass rush..screens misdirections draw plays..I’m telling you in Stanton has to pass 30 times we lose

I agree with Robert above. I will say again that I love B.A. as our head coach, but some of his play calling is questionable. I admire him for stepping up and admitting in the post game interview he made some bad calls. I also want to say that Drew is also responsible. If he sees 8 in the box, he needs to get us out of a bad play. It’s not all B.A.’s fault. He cannot predict what the defense will do, Drew needs to come up to the line and look at the box, then find the safeties, then look how the corners are lined up and either run the play, or audible out of it.

I agree we need more delayed screens out of the backfield and swing passes to our backs. I’d also like to see more drag patterns, or smash and release passes to the tight ends. The smash plays are virtually unstoppable and always make yardage because they look like their blocking down, then release a few seconds later into the flat. By then, the backers have vacated the area and dropped into coverage. I’ll take 7-8 yards on a tight end smash every time.

Dyno – – you are whizzin’ against the tide trying to inform louis what it takes to be a loyal fan of something; he does not understand the “win or lose” concept. I’ve read too much of his things. Good observation on CARDS & RAMS ARE ON SHORT WEEK.

For those who think the 49ers are out of it…yeah, probably, but we still need to get a win there…it counts mucho large.

superbowlcards… you say “”even if we don’t make the playoffs””….!!! Every good story needs proper punctuation to end it. Our end is to make a run in the playoffs. What is with your “moniker” if you do not believe that….don’t settle, please…

Robinson – – I’m thinking you can’t consume an entire Kerwich. You did read the description, right…not a mini taco…..

Ottis – – the writers did this to Bradshaw; he is just reading. But it was a really bad joke on him or really bad editing? Terry is not the dumb ass everyone accused him to be back in the day…and he get all the babes…!

much.faster…. Yeah….rant…rant…rant…for Kerwich.. where was he when Ells has been running injured all this time? Rams, the biggest task..?? NOT… We need to embarrass the Seahawks…that is the Division…period…. Nothing else matters. But an extra win may be necessary….

BEING A LOYAL CARDS FAN IS ALWAYS AN EXERCISE IN EXERCISING THE HEART….SHEAR THE SHEEP…..LATER….

Dr G
Reading my post I typed sounds negative, not what I was trying to say at all, my point was supposed to highlight the very large amount of injuri, and the fact that we were at 10 wins and any other team with that many starters missing would be looking at a top. 5 draft pick, also I truly believe without all the injuries the Dolphin’s undefeated season would be in serious jeopardy, and we would be heavy favorites to win it all, everything we accomplish this season is icing on the cake due to all the injuries, there are only so many “next man up” and we could of dominated this year if not for the mass of injuries!! Ellington’s injury comes as no surprise, it is the only issue I have had with BA, knowing Andre is not a feature back (meaning …no workhorse) and we had no proven depth at RB he ran him into the ground, refusing to find a RB that could easily handle 12-15 carries with a 4 to 5 ypc average, either on the roster, or trade, or free agent, waiting until Ellington went down, even though everyone knew Andre wasn’t going to make it the entire season at the pace he was being used. Almost everyone on here predicted AE to the IR, BA himself said he wasn’t built to be a workhorse/feature back!! It remains to be seen if K. Williams is for real or not!! But he only got the chance because of AE’s injury, KW should have been rotating With Andre weeks ago!! Same with Grice, should have been given game carries to prove himself one way or the other, not sit inactives

Kerwyn Williams certainly painted the town red. That screen at the 5 yd. line was dangerous as it was a lateral. If it had been incomplete, it could have been a turnover. The Rams have outscored opponents 76 – 0 their last two games. They will probably be a force next year and are a dangerous team to face this year. The press out here in the Bay Area is calling it the end of an era for the Niners. i wonder how Carson is feeling after his knee op. I’m on my 12th day after surgery and am getting a lot of conflicting inconsistent info. from different people. Bend knee and hold for 15 seconds, that hurts, 5 seconds, or 0 seconds and don’t have your leg down in a car for more than 30 seconds as you can get a blood clot but it’s Ok to go the pharmacy when they kick you out of your room and wait around for an hour waiting for your meds. I guess when you’re a professional QB, you get a lot more consistent info.

Counting the 49ers out prematurely??? They are 7-6, just lost to Oakland, and have to face three teams with a combined record of 27-12, the first of which is the Seahawks, in Seattle… they lost by 16 (and the game wasn’t even that close) in SF. They aren’t winning that game. And even if they did, you’ve got 4 9-4 teams and 2 10-3 teams ahead of the Niners. The best they can do is 10-6 if they sweep which is probably more than a 100-to-1 shot and even that’s probably not enough to get them in the playoffs.

The 49ers were basically done after week 8 at 4-4 but the schedule was favorable and gave them three bad teams in a row. They squeaked out wins against the Saints (now 5-8) by 3, Giants (now 4-9) by 6, and Skins (now 3-10) by 4 to give the appearance of being back in it, but there’s just no way they now beat Seattle, AZ and SD. Two out of three will be a stretch and that only gets them to 9-7.

KevinS – – You saved me from doing some curious work on the 49ers. Good research…Yeah, I think the 9ers are ready for the fork….Kaep needs a hug from his mom…

superbowlcards – – I find “all” your points in agreement. No surprise on Ells injury… When BA said in the beginning that he would run half the Offense ((25-30)) thru Ells, I put a dent in my forehead trying to understand his potential play-calling. He has ignored Fitz and Floyd as the monsters of our team using them only occasionally. To wit: even with Fitz gimping, he still had the hands to make plays in the KC game, and Floyd was good even with bad throws to him.

Based upon my post on PP ((he was a RB)), Ells is such a good athlete, he probably could be a CB and stick around a bit.

Silly sumpin”… I can see Acho or Okafor going RB on the goal line. Remember “The Fridge?” Here I am, try to stop me..!

With all the special WRs we started out with, it makes more sense to have the aerial ball game lead the run game. We have seen more than a bunch of reasonable posters, and fans critical of BA’s play calling… Bowles has covered BA’s behind all year. This year, the Offense was supposed to carry the Defense. That has not happened even prior to Palmer going out…ugh…miss him…

The Cards have had more than their share of good fortune in close wins, beginning day 1 at home with the Chargers…our last second Defense holding them off. I lost my voice at that game… be well… Shear the sheep..!!!

Supplement – – If indeed, our Offense was able to come through like the original plan, it would not be unreasonable to call them the team to beat this year.

But nada, and with all the injuries, I am just proud that our guys have shown heart not seen very often. The prognosticators say “You are supposed to lose.” And secretly, I’m betting the players point a single finger to them….and say “you are mistaken.”

Ok…OK…OK, I was expecting to get hammered on my statement not to ever count the 9ers out, which after having them be a major pain and monkey wrench to my teams my entire life, is, something of an automatic reflex. While the 9ers may not be odds on to make the playoffs, they have showed an annoying way of finding a stubborn refusal to just go quietly into that good night, which could still hurt us, should they somehow find a way to win a few. I have learned through the years that they are drama queens and there always seems to be something going on that the press goes wild with and foretells their impending implosion(annual ploy?)…and teams count them out to their later dismay. My point was that no team should be taken for granted at this time of year (Falcons are a good example) whether they are in the running or not because things can change rapidly and the race in the West especially, is too precarious.